As a public safety official, you’ve probably already heard of the First Responder Network Authority (typically referred to as FirstNet). It’s a high-speed broadband network specifically for first responders and public safety workers that was established by the federal government in 2012.
What you might not know is that its implementation in every state is imminent. Governors all over the country have begun preparing for it with various deployment plans, or plans to opt out.
The rapid-deployment plans, which include the framework of FirstNet’s coverage, the features it provides and its mission-critical abilities, initially became available to the governors through an online portal that launched on June 19, 2017.
After that release, the governors were given 45 days to look over the plans and give their suggestions on them, at which point a three-month period begins in which the governors can opt in or out, which would require them to choose their own deployment plan.
The deployment plan was released only three months after AT&T was chosen to be the provider for FirstNet. AT&T was given a 25-year contract which included 20mhz of 700Mhz band radio spectrum in order to operate this public-safety centered network, with the added bonus that when it’s not in use for emergencies, AT&T can still make use of it for commercial and other business purposes.
The main purpose of FirstNet is to do away with the delays and congestion that cellphone and Internet services often experience during times of heavy use, and to give emergency workers and PSAPs priority which it comes to communication.
As an example, Bill Schrier, a senior advisor for FirstNet and a former member of the Seattle police department, points out that in 2014, when the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl and had a victory parade through Seattle’s downtown area, the nearby cell networks became overloaded during the parade. The Firstnet system was designed as a solution to issues like that one.
The states that choose to opt in to the FirstNet deployment plan will have access to its priority network, which will, whenever possible, including broadband coverage.
In the event that that coverage is not available, AT&T is required to provide 3-4G service until they are able to upgrade the broadband service completely. Eventually, AT&T will be able to provide that broadband service all across the country.
It's important to note here that AT&T was actually given a six-month span to create the plan once the partnership was announced, and they did it in half the time, which has its pros and cons.
Any project of this magnitude that gets done ahead of schedule would probably be hailed as a significant accomplishment, but AT&T being able to distribute the plan ahead of time put more pressure on the states to explore the alternatives to the FirstNet deployment strategy.
As of early July, there were at least five states that asked for potential proposals for opting out of the FirstNet plan: New Hampshire, Arizona, Colorado, Alabama, and Michigan. Only one of them, New Hampshire, has already selected an alternate vendor.
These states weren’t objecting to FirstNet per se; they were seeking more large-scale solutions to their communication issues across the spectrum, not just when it came to emergency services.
But the decision to seek other avenues might be difficult for these states.
For example, there are groups like APCO International that are seeking a more comprehensive version of FirstNet, and they’ve said that they’re concerned about a fragmentation in the network if too many different providers are involved.
They’ve also stated that a group of different vendors would make an all-inclusive review process for FirstNet virtually impossible, making it difficult to sort out any initial issues it might have. This would also add needless administrative tasks, more complex service issues and bring potential cybersecurity risks to a system that was designed to solve problems, not create more of them.
Public safety technology must be reliable and effective above all else. That’s why it will be so interesting to see how FirstNet changes our public safety infrastructure. For more on public safety tech developments, read How to Prepare Your PSAP for NG911 Compliance.
New technological advancements take hold so quickly these days, that we soon forget what we ever did without them. And that holds true whether it’s a technological innovation in cars, computers or in PSAPs.
There have been so many changes in the way PSAP technology works over the past few decades that it’s difficult to comprehend them all.
But that’s as it should be, because emergency dispatchers' quick responses are vital to managing emergency situations. If you factor in the continued interconnection of different centers and the growth in population around the United States, the dispatcher position takes on more importance than ever before, and it becomes more complicated. Technology plays a vital part in helping to improve the tools that they have at their disposal.
Not that these changes always go smoothly. If you consider the amount of equipment that might need to be added to a PSAP work space to keep it up to date, you might imagine a dispatcher being inundated with several different screens and keyboards, with bulky computer towers all around them.
Streamlining public safety software systems
One of the biggest developments in PSAP tech lately has been the creation of software systems that streamline this process, making workflow less complex and allowing a more efficient flow of information between different departments.
Software companies like Verint have made huge advancements over the last decade in PSAP technology, creating systems that organize and optimize 911 dispatch services, taking up less space and more importantly, making response times quicker.
Dispatcher feedback
Many of the new innovations in PSAP technology have originated with the dispatchers themselves, simply because they are the most likely to spot potential areas for improvements and relay that firsthand knowledge to their supervisors.
For example, dispatchers all over the country have given feedback about the durability of their equipment, noting that their consoles need to be able to work at high levels for extended periods of time.
They also want platforms that have been “future-proofed,” allowing new upgrades in call-receiving and Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) to be easily installed, and allowing for the combination of broad- and narrow-band capability. All of these innovations, once incorporated, will allow more flexibility in the way dispatchers are able to do their jobs.
Physical and technical improvements
But it’s not just changes in technology that have revolutionized the modern PSAP - it’s also the way the technology is presented.
There’s been a new focus on ergonomically designed workstations that are set up more sensibly and comfortably for the dispatcher. This more efficient design plan is far more modular than workstations have ever been before, and it provides support for a multimedia approach that older workstations simply couldn’t handle.
But perhaps more importantly, this approach eases the pressure on the dispatcher, making them feel less stressed even under extreme emergency conditions. This allows them to make decisions with more confidence.
Customizable interfaces
The interface that a dispatcher encounters in their day-to-day work needs to not just work perfectly, but also maximize productivity.
These systems must incorporate flexibility into their designs, and be able to suit the current and anticipated future needs of the PSAP.
Customization is probably the fastest-evolving area of 911 dispatch technology, and that’s because customizable solutions these allow dispatchers to work with greater accuracy and efficiency.
On the frontlines of emergency services, nothing it more important than being able to accomplish a task quickly and correctly, and technology allows a dispatcher to do that. In this case, technology is absolutely about saving lives.
And that’s probably the most important thing to remember about the ever-evolving world of PSAP technology: It’s all being done to save the lives not just of victims of emergencies, but the lives of the police, firefighters and EMS workers in the field.
To learn more about PSAP technology, download our whitepaper on emergency communications training.
The terms “call center” and “contact center” are often used in the same context, but they’re not necessarily interchangeable. Both provide ways to communicate with customers, business partners and sometimes vendors, but they aren’t the same thing.
So, what exactly are the differences between a call center and a contact center? We’ve put together a description of each that discusses the differences and similarities.
Defining a call center
As you might guess from the name, a call center focuses mainly on voice-based communications, usually telephone calls.
A typical call center allows both inbound and outbound call services. As a basic example, incoming calls might be from customers reaching out in response to an advertising campaign, or maybe to ask some questions about a new service or product.
Conversely, outgoing calls might involve calling potential customers to give a survey or to get in touch with sales leads created by a new marketing campaign.
Occasionally, there are other services offered by a call center, including a voicemail system, an automated menu (which typically offers a series of choices to a caller to hone in on what they need or what might best serve them), and perhaps an answering service if the calls come in after a center’s hours.
Sometimes call centers are created and run by the companies themselves, but businesses often outsource these needs due to potential expenses from equipment to personnel.
This might sound like a basic explanation of what a call center is, and something you might already have known. But it’s important to understand the fundamentals so we can show how contact centers are different.
Defining a contact center
There was a time when the majority of callers who couldn’t get through to a live agent were frustrated by their experience. And while that frustration might still exist, it’s to a much smaller degree in an era where automated interfaces are common.
And that’s the main difference between a call center and a contact center. Much like call centers, contact centers do offer voice communications and handle inbound and outgoing calls. But in most cases, they also offer online chat services, email communication, instant messaging and other sorts of digital interfaces.
This array of services makes it possible for consumers, vendors and other people to reach out in the way they are most comfortable with. With varying work schedules increasingly becoming the norm, people might prefer being able to reach out in ways that are more convenient (and more expedient) than a phone call.
And often, the wait time isn’t as long with these alternate methods of communication. That’s not to mention that the customer can be more prepared and have all of the information they need in front of them when they begin an instant message or email conversation.
The less time people have to wait, the better, and that’s where a more multi-faceted contact center might be your preferred choice over a more traditional call center.
Is there a middle ground?
One interesting wrinkle when we talk about the differences between call centers and contact centers is that there might be yet another option beyond those two. Businesses that primarily provide IT services to their employees and customers often use something called an ITSM (IT service management) solution.
An ITSM system offers those who need it an array of ways to ask questions and get help, allowing them to look for the solution to their issue at their own pace through self-service portals or through reference materials. It can even allow them to add to the knowledge base that others seek answers from, letting them add their own advice and solutions to the educational database.
For more on contact centers and contact center software solutions, read “How Verint Media Recorder Can Help Your Contact Center.”
We’ve taken a look at some of the silliest, most misguided instances of people calling 911 for the wrong reasons. And there’s nothing wrong with taking a few minutes every now and then to sit back and enjoy a funny story..
But the truth is, there’s a downside to those abuses of the 911 system that isn’t nearly as visible. The fact of the matter is, when you look at the time and money that these nuisance calls can waste, it’s not that funny at all.
A recent extensive study of 911 abuse by the U.S. Dept. Of Justice came upon some disturbing information, made perhaps more surprising because there typically hasn’t been a great deal of data collection on 911 abuse.
But what they discovered was truly an eye-opener. The study, written by Rana Simpson, differentiated between “misuse” and “abuse” of 911, categorizing accidental dialing or multiple reports of the same accident differently than those calls that were intentional.
Looking at data from different cities around the country, they found a startlingly high rate of 911 abuse in many places. For example, in Jefferson County, KY, they discovered that a whopping 40% of the calls that came into 911 for a calendar year were intentional abuse calls - either prank calls, people reporting non-emergencies, or asking non-911 related questions like football game-times.
40% is a staggering number, and though that statistic certainly doesn’t apply to every city or county, it’s a sign that a lot of time and money are being wasted by 911 abuse.
In terms of money, it’s hard to tally a total, but we may have some clues. In 2014, a Memphis TV station did a news report about 911 abuse and estimated that each unnecessary dispatch of a police officer cost the city around $90.
That might not seem like much until you consider that the city of Memphis estimated they answered around 230,000 abusive 911 calls each year. If police were dispatched to just half of those calls, the cost is around $10 million.
And you can rest assured that a great deal of that expense is often passed on to the taxpayers - the people who need help from 911 in the first place.
And that’s to say nothing of incidents where the Memphis fire department was dispatched. That cost the city around $250 for each time the fire department was called in, so you can imagine how much of a financial burden that kind of 911 abuse was on the city and the taxpayer.
Then you have to consider the amount of time that is wasted responding to pranks, mistakes or non-emergency calls. It’s more difficult to quantify exactly how much time is lost, because there’s no default amount of time that dispatching the proper public safety workers and resolving the situation is going to take.
But in the same television report we mentioned earlier, the station spoke to the Memphis Fire Dept. Director Alvin Benson, and he succinctly summed up the issue in a way that should give anyone who hears it pause for thought.
"If you call us for a stubbed toe,” Benson said, “your grandmother perhaps won't have us available for a heart attack."
If that doesn’t bring home the potential disaster that 911 abuse can cause, nothing will. But the fact of the matter is, Benson is correct. Any time someone calls 911 without considering whether their situation merits it, or to play a prank, or to ask a non-911 related question about the weather or the time, or simply because, as has happened in some cases, they were lonely and needed to talk to someone, lives are put at risk.
911 is an emergency service and should be treated as such, or people will suffer in one form or another.
To learn how KOVA is helping emergency workers and public safety officials do their work as efficiently as possible, read “How Public Safety Technology Can Be a Cost-Effective Way to Improve Your Department’s Efficiency.”
Honest, open feedback is one of the most important elements of a strong relationship between a contact center manager and employee. A back-and-forth dialogue between a manager and his or her workforce is crucial to the success and efficiency of any good center.
But there’s another kind of feedback that is even more important: The feedback of the customers who call, email, or text to your contact center. There’s no better barometer of how well or poorly a call center is performing than the comments and suggestions you receive from your callers.
So how do you ensure effective caller feedback, and how do you properly parse and organize the data you’re receiving - whether it’s from surveys, follow-up emails, or the caller conversations themselves? Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your customer feedback.
Ask for feedback as soon after the caller’s experience as possible
If you want to truly find out what a caller’s experience was with your center, it’s best to do so quickly. Otherwise the information won’t be fresh in the caller’s mind.
Sometimes, call centers do this while the caller is still on the phone, with an agent asking towards the end of the call if the customer would be willing to answer some questions about their experience, and if they feel their issue was addressed.
Sometimes customers will be irate or irritated by the lack of a satisfactory solution, so the results might be a bit skewed. Overall, however, this is still an important method of gathering feedback.
Keep surveys brief
People lead busy lives, and they’re often not in the mood to stay on the line or push through a long email survey.
Hone your surveys to be as brief, but informative, as possible. Make sure not to take up too much of the caller’s time, or that could negatively affect the way they answer your questions. It won’t do any good to get feedback from a caller who’s annoyed or impatient with the way you get it.
Make sure questions are relevant to your KPIs
You can ask customers an endless variety of questions, but if the answers you receive don’t help you reach your KPI goals, they won’t mean much.
Don’t get wrapped up in questions that might seem useful, but don’t actually provide information that can help you make improvements or changes to your center.
You have a chance to get the most valuable information possible about your center when you seek feedback from a customer, so make sure to figure out which questions will accomplish that goal without bringing in extraneous data that you might not really need.
Use the right customer feedback technology
Customer feedback isn’t useful unless you’re able to parse it properly. That’s where the Enterprise Feedback Management system comes in.
This system will give you comprehensive information about the way customers view your center, and it does so more quickly than other methods thanks to a streamlined process.
With the EFM system, you can share data through customizable reports with a high level of interactivity. You can place your survey results in a central location and make your surveys more personalized for your company. You can also create more detailed reports about the data you receive, allowing your center to get as much information as possible as quickly as possible.
As for the data you receive from your callers, the EFM system can not only ensure that it’s completely secure, it can analyze the specific words used in customer statements (written or verbal) and cull the actual sentiments being expressed.
Not only that, but Enterprise Feedback Management can provide you with you need to properly interpret your KPIs, not to mention helping you create achievable, sensible benchmarks for improvement at your call center.
The EFM system is fast, accurate and secure, and it’s the best way for your center to process your customer feedback.
Want to learn more about using customer feedback to improve your contact center operations? Read our post “How to Become a Customer Feedback Superhero.”
It’s incredible, really, that there are still people out there who don’t seem to know when it is and isn’t appropriate to call 9-1-1.
On another level, chronicling the mystifying, often hilarious, usually misguided world of funny 911 calls makes us feel like Al Pacino in The Godfather, Part III: Every time we think we’re out, these silly, ridiculous and just plain wrong calls pull us back in.
We’ve found another batch of funny stories about people who need a refresher course in what the word “emergency” means, so it’s time to share some more outrageous 911 call stories with you. Enjoy!
One night in December of 2011, a man in Miami named Terry Lynn Kimbell decided his craving for Taco Bell was too powerful to resist, and that he had to hit their drive-thru as quickly as possible. The only problem was the Kimbell was too drunk to drive, and he knew that the restaurant wouldn’t let him walk through the drive through; that’s against the rules.
So perhaps thinking it was worth a shot, and maybe even thinking he was being responsible about it, Kimbell called 911 and asked to be connected to police dispatch so he could request a special favor: No, he didn’t need a ride; he wanted the police to call the manager of Taco Bell and ask if they could make an exception.
Rather than getting his snack fix, Kimbell got arrested for misusing 911.
Back in 2010, a 57-year-old Ohio woman called 911 with what she obviously considered a serious emergency: She was having trouble finding a husband.
And she was persistent about it as well; she called three times before the exasperated operator finally told her that she was risking arrest for using 911 for non-emergency purposes, and that was apparently all she needed to hear. She happily asked the operator to send an officer, preferably a male one, right over.
Math Emergency
Let’s face it, there are some problems that are very difficult to solve, especially when you’re four years old. And for many children, no problem is more difficult than a math problem.
So what better way to get help with that kind of an issue than to call 911, where the little boy in question had certainly learned there were plenty of people ready and willing to assist him.
That’s exactly what this particular four-year-old did (allegedly acting on instructions from his mother).
Sometimes you really need to know the answer to, “What’s 16 minus 8?” But maybe there are other ways to go about it.
Sounds Like He’s Already Been There
Back in 2010 in Sarasota, FL, a man called 911 because he needed a ride. Which already puts him on the wrong track, unless he needed a ride in an ambulance for some reason.
But no, this man needed a ride to the local liquor store, and as he somewhat woozily attempts to persuade the operator to send some officers to help him get there, he even insists that the local sheriff assured him that the police could help him out.
No word on whether or not the cops took him on a different ride, but perhaps the headache he had the next day was punishment enough.
It Really Was Pretty Loud, But Still…
In 2013, a Waukesha, WI man called 911 to ask that a person be removed from his home. This happens, of course, from time to time, but in this case the only threat this person posed to the caller was keeping him awake.
Apparently, the caller had a friend over who ended up falling asleep. But her snoring was so loud that it banished him to the living room.
So he called 911 from the couch to have emergency responders come over to his house and get her out so he could get some sleep.
The punchline here is that they actually did it.
Want more funny 911 stories? Read “Our Top 6 Favorite Funny 911 Calls.”
Management can be a tricky job to do well, particularly when it comes to managing a call center or contact center. After all, a call center manager is dealing with both people and technology - two areas that can be challenging if you don’t have the best working for you.
But there are certain things that seem to be integral to being a superior supervisor, and we say that because these methods and strategies come up over and over again when we look at well-managed call centers.
Here are 7 pro tips that you can incorporate into your management style to help you become a better asset to your call center and your employees.
Do your employees know you, and what you stand for?
We’re not talking about occasional conversation or check-ins with the agents at your contact center; we’re talking about making sure your employees have a familiarity with both your personal and professional lives.
Have an informal meeting, either with each individual or your entire staff at once, and tell them about your life, your management philosophy, and what you expect from them and yourself.
The more your employees know about what kind of person you are, and the more you know about them, the better your connection will be. Even getting to know people in departments other than your own can be beneficial. Creating a familial atmosphere among those you work with can foster a stronger team within your call center.
Make sure you hear them
Even if you might disagree with what your employees are telling you, it’s important to listen to their concerns. Not only will you learn more about what each of them wants or needs in their position, but they will regard you more highly as a manager.
There are few things that make a person feel more secure and confident than feeling they are being listened to. Keep that in mind as your employees talk to you.
Be visible
How often are you around your employees? How often do you walk through the call center area and check in with them, or hop onto calls with them to see how things are going? How much do the people who work for you actually see you?
Making yourself a regular presence among your employees not only fosters the sense that you’re a hands-on manager, it can make an agent feel more confident about your accessibility. The more you show yourself, the more initiative and effort they might show you.
Embrace innovation
Yes, it’s important to make sure the policies and procedures of your call center are being followed , but it's also important to review those policies, both on your own and with your employees, to make sure that they still make sense.
After all, in a field like customer service, which is constantly changing and evolving, it’s important to remember that your rules and policies might need to be changed, too. And your agents will definitely notice if you’re willing to adjust, change or do away with procedures that aren’t working for them or your clients.
Communicate
It might seem like all of the tips we’ve mentioned here are communication-related, but we’re speaking here of a more literal form of communicating.
Are there changes or new ideas coming to your call center? Make sure your employees know about it, make sure you’re as clear as possible about why things are happening, and make sure you’re open to feedback.
Observe how your employees work together
How do your employees interact with one another? Is there mutual respect and consideration going on between your agents? Sometimes it’s hard to get a sense of how your agents act when you’re not around, but be as observant as possible to gauge how well (or poorly) your employees treat each other.
Commit
Now that you know what tips to use, it’s important to keep using them. If your employees feel like you’re not committed to these techniques and ideas, they won’t feel the need to be, either.
Learn more about call center management in “A Fresh Look at Call Center Workforce Management.”
There are new and exciting developments happening in call center technology all the time. So many, in fact, that it can often be easy to get caught up in the lure of a new product without considering how helpful it will actually be to your center.
Flashy ideas are great on the surface, but what about the substance of the new product? Is it something that will help you run a more successful call center in the long run?
One way to figure out what you do and do not need for your specific center is to consider what the most commonly-used software and tech systems are at other centers, from the viewpoint of the supervisors who bring it in. Here’s a list of the most essential technology that managers need for their centers.
Automatic call distribution
Automatic call distribution, or ACD, performs a great deal of the most important functions of a call center - in effect, it acts as the spine to your telephone system’s skeleton.
ACD is what routes the incoming calls to the agents within the center, and it also what collect and measure wait time, the length of the calls, call volume, the amount of time a caller has to wait, and other administrative functions that are vital for a supervisor. Even more important, ACD is what lets managers monitor their agents’ calls.
IVR (interactive voice response)
Another of the most basic forms of call center software, IVR can also be the most helpful, particularly when it comes to helping callers solve more minor issues through automated system. It’s essentially a menu system that, through the customer’s responses, routes their call to the correct queue, whether it be an agent, a department or an automated system.
If the first two forms of tech we’ve discussed were skeletal, the IVR is like the circulatory system, getting the important information where it needs to go.
It’s also one of the most vital areas that call center managers would look for opportunities for improvement and increased reliability.
Think about how frustrating it is when an automated system asks you a question and despite repeated attempts, seems to ignore your answer.
That’s the sign of an outdated or inefficient system, and it’s an area that a smart manager will keep track of and make improvements to if it seems like callers aren’t getting their problems solved correctly and quickly.
If there’s any fall-off in the quality of a call center’s IVR, it’s a problem that supervisors will want taken care of with the best new technology possible.
Skills-based routing
A working, efficient SBR system is one of the most important things for a call center to have if they want to provide top-notch service to their callers. SBR sends the calls to a specific agent rather than generally feeding the call to a pool of agents, based on a set of parameters created by the center’s management. A manager can take the employee’s skill level into account when creating the specific system; for example, is the agent bi-lingual? Does their demographic information match the callers?
This creates the probability of a more personal customer service experience for the caller, and a better chance of success for the call center.
Technology isn’t the only thing that helps a call center succeed; the people are what really matter. But it's important to remember that the right tech can help you get your callers to the right people more quickly. To learn more about investing in your agents, read “6 Ways to Help New Contact Center Employees Succeed.”
